Fall In Love With Your Home

I consider myself lucky to be able to go into a variety of homes to give organizing advice, staging advice and de-cluttering advice. I work for a few real estate agents that have me go into a home (before it’s listed), to walk through with the owners. It is during this walk-through that we identify areas that could use a little bit of tweaking – and sometimes there is a LOT of tweaking. Whatever the home situation is when I walk in, after all of the changes have been made, I consistently hear the same comments:

“I can’t believe the change in our home!”

“Now I don’t want to move!”

“Why didn’t we do this sooner?”

I get excited to hear those comments yet at the same time, I feel a bit sad. Sad that it took a potential move to a new home for individuals to fall in love with their home again. As I look at my consultation reports, there are consistent tips that I give to each home owner. Here are my top 5 tips that I consistently seem to give:

Clear off every flat surface. If you have never heard this before, hear it now! Flat surfaces are the easiest to become cluttered in no time. Take one room in your home and do a ‘flat surface check’. Are there piles of paper laying around? If so, where do they belong? Have your children just thrown, tossed or left behind some of their things? If so, where do they belong? Find where they belong and put them away.

Kitchens are a key area where potential buyers will spend a lot of time. I have a little rule that I use when staging: for every counter, no more than 1 item (2 smaller items) on the counter. Take a look at your kitchen counters. Do you have a coffee maker AND a toaster on one counter? Do you have a spice rack, a knife block, cooking utensils all on one counter? Although most people leave those items out because they get daily use, if kitchen counters are cluttered, chances are other surfaces in your home (flat surfaces) are cluttered too. Evaluate what you truly use and tuck the rest away (or even better – if you don’t use it then get rid of it).

Bathrooms are another key area. Almost every homeowner that is looking to sell ends up going through their bathroom cupboards. What do they find? Expired medicines, old lotion, old Christmas gifts, etc. My tip that I give is to use our 4 seasons as a guide to go through bathroom cupboards. At the end, (or beginning) of a season, go through each bathroom cupboard. Toss expired medicine (many pharmacies will take expired prescriptions), get rid of old lotions, give away (donate) unopened bathroom supplies that you have no intention of using. Give the cupboard a good wipe. Finally, use containers to keep ‘like’ items together. By using containers it allows you to easily see what you are running low of and what you already have plenty of.

Cleaning. Ugh….Yes – I had to bring this up. Pride of ownership goes a long way and is easy to spot immediately. If you keep up with vacuuming, dusting, washing floors, it shows. Homes that are not clean show as a dirty home. Plain and simple. I happen to love a clean house but secretly, I absolutely hate cleaning it. You can do one of two things: do a full clean at one time OR, break down your cleaning into sections. One day, focus on the bathrooms, the next day, focus on dusting and vacuuming. For me personally, I can’t bear to think of cleaning every day, so I focus on one day a week and just go until it all gets done.

Less Is More – I think I’ve said this at least a thousand times. Less truly is more. When I go in and de-clutter a space, a room, an entire home, the owners can not believe what their home can really look like. Honestly, it’s because all of the ‘stuff’ is no longer there. Imagine walking into a room that was once piled with magazines, kids toys, dirty dishes that no longer looks like that. It now looks like a new home! Please don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying to get rid of everything. What I am saying is to evaluate what you and why you have it. When someone says, “Yes, I know. I have to get rid of all that clutter.” Why is it out in the first place if you know it’s clutter?

By doing just a few small things, you too can fall in love with your home again – and you don’t even have to move!

I have always thought our homes are really external expressions of what is going on inside our minds. our lives become cluttered with events and details and we become tired. Having someone come from outside and de-clutter our homes can have a similar effect inside. Its no wonder they don’t want to leave ,

Both hit the nail on the head, indeed that is where the saying ‘tidy desk, tidy mind’ also comes from. Less is often more, and I would imagine most of us are guilty of hoarding someting once in a while. Such habits are often those that lead to clutter and disorganisation. We are also most likely to clutter when we are tired, stressed or pre-occupied, and taking time to destress and de-clutter the mind can have a positive effect on the presentation of our homes.

Couldn’t agree more with your comments about the kitchen! I can not stand when things pile up on the counter because we get home from work, plop it down and there it stays for days on end. I really like what Brian said as well, “our homes are really external expressions of what is going on inside our minds”. That’s deep!

Hi Gitcalgary
Great post especially as I studied Feng Shui for many years. As an interior designer of glass I found two great ways to unclutter the look of your home is to add frosted glass tint to the kitchen cupboards and in the bathroom to hide the shower. It adds a polished and classy finish when done professionally.
Cheers Tony.

Thank you! I will show my wife this post. I love minimalism. My wife has dust magnets strewn over every horizontal surface. It makes dusting a long drawn out chore! I love the idea of giving each room a dedicated cleaning day. Thanks for the tips xx

You are so welcome! I hope it helps you. It\’s amazing how short of time it takes for things to \’clutter up\’. It certainly does makes cleaning a longer process when you have to deal with stuff before you can even clean. All the best to you!

I’m shaking my head while reading all of these excellent tips and imagining doing them as soon as I finish working this evening, but it’s the implementation that’s the problem! I’ve had a few motivated spurts and managed to get most of the flat surfaces in my house cleaned off, but it’s keeping it that way that I (mostly my family) have fallen short. Needless to say, I will be revisiting this post for a while…

Hi Miranda,
Thanks for stopping by! One tip that I find extremely useful is to create a routine. It’s easy to walk by a pile – especially when we’re tired, we’ve had a busy day, and we’re exhausted. We are creatures of habit so one habit (routine) that I have is that I don’t leave a room empty handed. When moving from one room to the next, grab something and put it where it goes. Have family, get them to do the same (if you can). I hope that helps! 🙂

Hi Gitcalgary, I am really impressed with your work. Organizing a house is not an easy task. It is a hard work to do. Thank you so much for sharing this tips. I find it very useful. I am hoping to read more from you. Thanks!

Funny how your attitude can change about things when you do a bit of freshening or modernizing. I found some real modern timers and switches for my house at the website http://ww.timersandswitches.com. They can simplify life with touch screens and programmable features.

Hi Andy,
Thanks for stopping by. A home really is, for most people, their biggest investment they will ever make. I couldn’t agree with you more – “one of the most precious things.” I hope you have a great day today!

Thank you for this article. I find in my own business that clients have the hardest time with declutter. They initially think there is value in having all of the pictures of fido strewn all over the house! I know for me its takes an effort to get them to see that declutter and minimalism are all designed to help them sell their home for the highest dollar value! Most see the value, but it does take some “gentle” persuasion! Thanks again for the important message you have shared with the web! Good luck to you.

Hi Andrew,
Thanks for stopping by and leaving your comments! I agree with you when you say it’s not always easy letting clients know about their own ‘clutter’. I typically word it like this, “Now that you’ve decided to sell your home, you need to view it as a property to be sold. Having your home staged will highlight your home’s best features. This is not to say your home is not already well decorated or well maintained. How you live in a house is simply different from how we will present it for sale.” That usually helps. I hope you have a great day!

Looks like the biggest tip here really is organization. Even though you are not actually improving the value of your home potential buyers perceive as such when they enter a clean organized house. Nice article.

I surely love eating and so I usually stay in my kitchen during days off. It has become my favorite area at home. I guess we have moved for around 4 times already since I was born. My father is a traveler and we move to wherever it is near to his job. The home that we have now is the most lovable place I have ever lived in. Just last week we renovated the kitchen and installed granite countertops to it. I guess that if we would have to sell this house in the future then it will be just too hard for me to give up the kitchen. LOL

I still remember the days when I moved to a new apartment. I have to admit, it took me a minute to get in touch with the surroundings, with the vibes of the rooms and with the bathrooms. My advice is to make every corner of the room about you. Even if you’re using old furniture, get a new picture on the wall that’s about it. It will affect the general mood of the room, and it will let you know that this home is… yours.

I accidentally came across this article. I think your article is a special one and I never seen this type article any where on the web. I always feel a attachment to my home. I usually suffer when I leave my home. Anyway thanks for sharing nice tips

I don’t have real attachment with my home because I travel a lot. I stay mostly different countries during travelling purpose but surely by following above provided ideas I can make me fall in with the places I stay for quite sometime. Thanks for the handy tips.

Hi there, we’ve been living in our renovated home (which took 3 years), but our 2 boys are rapidly outgrowing our beautiful home, so sadly we need detach ourselves from our home that took so much blood sweat are tears! But hey, family comes first right!

Hi Amanda,
That is so common. For some, detachment is an easy thing to do while others really struggle with it. I wish you all the best with your new home and yes, I agree that family does come first 🙂

For many people home is their favorite place they would like to be.Having a beautiful home is mostly everybody’s dream. I have heard that our homes can speak a lot about the people who live in it. The tips you provided in the above post are really very helpful. Especially that clearing off flat surfaces , bathrooms and managing all the things around in a room. I am sure that by following the above tips provide I can make my house very beautiful and clean.

Thanks for the tips. I like reading about tips on home decoration these days because I am building upper portion of my home and I am looking for kitchen and bathroom ideas. I liked your tips and advices for both kitchen and bathroom tips

You are thoughtful indeed. I have the same problems with all the surfaces in my house. You indicated everything right. You are so true about bathroom cabinets…… all things clutter if we become careless. But your tip of doing it all once a week is a very useful idea. Excellent home care tips and i want to fall in love with my home by following your suggestions.

Hi Gitcalgary, I really love this post! We just moved in our new house and I’m glad that I found your blog, at least I’m now aware of the things that I need to buy and not to buy. I really love all your tips especially the last one. Thanks for the inspirations.

I have been working from home for last 5 years and you can call me full-time home worker. It is truly challenging when you have interruptions, however it is also very rewarding. I love being capable to spend time with my family and work together. I don’t have a boss and so happy that it brings handsome money which is not achievable in any job.

Great article you have here 🙂 I wanted to give my home a makeover anyway by looking more and more into home automation & the smart home. I will incorporate your tips and tricks. Especially number 5 is a good one: Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication 🙂 Keep up the good work!

Yes Dewald – less really can be more with home decoration(s). I believe people can overdo it with decorations and what could be a gorgeous space can look cluttered and busy.
Thanks for stopping by to leave your comment! ~Sheri

This reminds of me that I need to clean out the pantry this weekend. One thing I figured out over the years of cleaning is that the less furniture and other stuff you have around, the easier it is to clean the entire place. Plus, no need to keep moving things around to get to all the nooks and crannies.

Great article. I just love all those practical tips – especially that bit about cleaning up by “sections.” Makes total sense for me since that’s what I usually do. May I also add by mentioning about the importance of roofing repairs (or replacement, in some cases)? It increases not only a home’s value but most importantly, its overall comfort.

Good advice Sheri, and advice that needs to be listened to by many! I’m amazed at the amount of TV shows offering similar tips yet sellers are shocked when others don’t like pink and black wall paper or collections of gothic ornaments taking over living rooms etc. Each to their own but when trying to sell a house it needs to be a blank canvas to a certain extent.

That is so true Robert. How you live in a house is simply far different from how you present it for sale. I would like to think that homeowners would do everything possible to get top dollar for their home however, that is not always the case.

I personally like the idea of cleaning in sections than do everything in one day. An hour for each room a day is not bad at all. Another good tip is that, if you are too lazy to clean up your mess, then don’t mess at all.
Excellent tips! Thanks for sharing.

Hi,
This something unique to read.You have everything very easily.The best quality of this post is your choice of words .The ideas is clear.The interior decoration makes anyone to fall in love with the home.Thanks for valuable post .
THANKS
Rob

This are really great tips! And super simple yet very much effective. We can truly see the beauty of a space when it is cleaned and free from any unnecessary things. “Less is truly more”.Thanks for sharing!

Great post! I really don’t like it when my house is a mess, but unfortunately I don’t have the time to keep it as tidy as I’d like and when I do have some free time that I could use to tidy up a bit, I seem to prefer spending it doing more relaxing things, like sleeping for example… Your tips will surely help me a lot with organizing my home and keeping it nice and tidy in what little free time I have. Thanks a lot!

I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that you take this approach with potential listings. I remember several times when I was looking at homes with a Realtor and the homes we walked into were atrocious. One home had garbage in the basement – the entire basement just littered with garbage! At another home a lady just sat upstairs and smoked while we walked through and there were piles all over the table and counters. They would have benefited from tip #4.

And I know you didn’t mention this, but a fresh coat of paint makes a huge difference. New paint is fabulous for covering up scuffs and marks that don’t wash off easily (especially if your home is filled with small children). Also, it is so worth paying for professional carpet cleaning. We own a standard home carpet cleaner and went over all of our carpets before leaving. Our kind Realtor persuaded us to hire a carpet cleaning company and I was amazed how much better the carpets looked afterwards and it really was not expensive at all.

Peter, thank you for leaving your comments. My good friends were recently looking for a new home and the stories they told me were horrible including two teens still sleeping! It truly amazes me what people think when they’re trying to sell their homes.

Great points regarding fresh coat of paint and professional carpet cleaning too. ~Sheri

Hi Sheri,
Great article as mentioned already. We see this daily with our clients and we have found the help of a stager or organizer prior to listing really helps them and us reach our goal of selling the home. Keep up the great info! Thanks Jeff

This is a really good article. I think too often looks around their home and sees “their home” – even when coming up to selling it. It is really hard to take a step back and look at it from the perspective of a prospective buyer. What do they see? What do they think?

Too many times I think people consider expensive re-modelling projects as the way to get their home up to scratch before selling and don’t just try to put themselves in the shoes of a buyer and try to stage the home in a way which is likely to appeal to them.

Your article reminds us all that this is probably the best way forward.

Good article. Clean home always gives you a fresh feeling and energy and make you fell happy. It is place where you spend your whole life and celebrates festivals with your loved ones and should be maintain properly.

Great tips or advice in organizing a home. But we can’t deny the fact that sometimes we accidentally lock our house and left the key inside. It’s really a problem especially if you’re in a hurry and you need to call a locksmith to fix it. You may find a reliable locksmith before this things happen and have their contact numbers readily accessible.

Thanks for this post! It’s always annoying when you go inside a beautiful home and it’s not clean, definitely something you can spend 30 minutes a day doing to make your home more enjoyable. Thanks again!

So many people go about their lives picking up things they make use of and then as soon as they are finished the put the item down (not in the place they picked it up from). I call these people Use-n-Droppers. After a day or week of doing this ones house can be total chaos. I find it only takes a few seconds to replace the item used in its proper place. This also saves huge amounts of time in searching for that item that you used yesterday but can’t locate today. You will actually save time in your busy life by actually putting things back in their proper place.

I couldn’t agree more Tom. Putting things away when you’re done using them is such a simple concept yet a challenge for many. My little motto: ‘Never leave a room empty handed’ is one that I have used for many, many years. It takes all of 5-10 seconds to put things away. Like you said, after a week of not putting things away, ones house can be in chaos. I used to tell my kids that I actually was lazy so putting things away – right away – was actually the lazy way of tidying up the house! 🙂

Must say; that the top 5 tips are the best 5 tips to keep our home beautiful.

By keeping all these points in our mind, we can actually keep our place neat and clean. and obviously, if our place or home will remain clean all the time then it will be good from hygienic point of view and who so ever will come to our place from outside will also liked it and definitely that person will also going to praise and everyone is the found of it 😉

Don’t just pack everything up and take it home with you. This happens so often and it is the worst idea yet. Sorry I’m being a little tough and too honest, but it makes for even a harder job on the other end and clutters up your family, home and life. Deal with it in the relative’s home once. Don’t bring it all home to your house.

I love taking care of my house because it’s where I spend my precious time with my family, where I relax after a hard working day. I want to make my house really comfortable. Thanks for sharing great tips with us. I believe I will fall in love with my home more after following your hints.

As an IICRC Certified Master Carpet Cleaner for the last 23 years, I see my fair share of people trying desperately to sell their home with no prior success because they were missing all the fine details in the presentation of their home. Everything from flat surfaces being cluttered like you mentioned, to their carpets being absolutely filthy, or worse yet, filthy and smelling not so fresh. Its amazing how the first impression of a home is such a powerful detail and yet so many homeowners miss these key elements in preparing their home for a quick and profitable sale. Carpet cleaning, especially professional carpet cleaning with a reputable IICRC Certified technician is so important. You will never regret hearing your real estate agent bring groups of interested home buyers that are commenting how fresh your home smells and appears. Your carpet is the first line in the sand. You will either sink or swim depending on its condition.

I have read quite a bit about whether or not smart devices in a home make it easier to sell. Just from reading your post, it is obvious that you visit many homes. Do you think that the addition of smart gadgets such as security cameras or thermostats, make a house more sellable?

Hi James,
This is just my personal opinion: it really depends on the area and who your ‘target market’ is. For the most part, if your home is in a neighbourhood where young families are moving in, the yes – I would say go ahead. I believe the key is not not overdo it with all the gadgets. Let the bones and the design of the home wow your potential buyer.